He frowned down at her, feeling the soft touch of her hand on his arm.
“Just…sit with me. Please? Just for a little while.”
He stared into her eyes, and then he let his gaze move down over her. She was wearing a pearl-grey satin camisole with lace trim and matching short bottoms. “All right,” the word came out of his mouth involuntarily. “Scoot over.” And even as he moved to lean against the headboard next to her, he wondered why he was putting himself through this torture. Lifting his arm, he wrapped it around her shoulders, tucking her against his bare chest, his hand rubbing up and down her upper arm.
After a moment, she relaxed into him, her head resting on his chest. “I know it’s silly, but I just don’t want to be alone.”
“You’re not. I’m here, Princess.” He found his hand suddenly stroking the silky softness of her hair.
“Talk to me,” she whispered.
“What do you want to talk about?”
“Anything. It doesn’t matter. I just like the sound of your voice.”
“Really?” He frowned, tilting his head down to look at her. Her head lifted off his chest to meet his eyes.
“I know it sounds silly, but your voice calms me.”
“Does it, now?” He grinned down at her. “And here I thought every word out of my mouth pissed you off.”
She smiled and lay her head back down on his chest. “Tell me a story.”
His chest shook with his laughter. “A bedtime story? Aren’t you a little old for that?” She slid her arm around his bare abs, and his hand came up to caress her forearm as it lay on him.
“Please.”
He huffed out a breath, smiling and gave in. “Once upon a time, there was a beautiful princess who drove a silver Mercedes…”
She let out a soft tinkle of laughter.
His fingers trailed up and down her arm, stroking. “She had long blonde hair like that of an angel, big blue gorgeous eyes, great fucking legs that went on forever, tits that could make a man sit up and beg, and an ass just made for-”
“Crash!” She slugged his gut.
“Umph…” his body curled forward with her punch. “Damn, baby. Give a guy some warning next time.” He rubbed his hand over his abs. “Anyway, this beautiful princess was very upset because she didn’t know how to use a coffeemaker or a washing machine.”
“How tragic,” she commented sarcastically.
“Oh, it was.” Shannon pinched his stomach, and he jerked. “Oww, babe!”
“I want a nice story.”
“It is a nice story, if you’d let me tell it.”
She settled back down. “Go on.”
“One day a handsome prince rode in…”
“Handsome, huh?”
“Very handsome. He was renowned far and wide for the huge size of his-” She pinched his nipple this time. “Damn, girl! What the hell?” He rubbed his palm over his chest. “I’ll remember that, Princess.”
“The story?”
“One day the handsome prince rode in on a…”
“White steed?”